armoring
by numbuh eleven
Summary: She finds out, far too late, that she had shielded her heart with shale instead of diamond.-Leaf, Green. She just doesn't want to hurt him anymore.


_armoring_

_/_

_She finds out, far too late, that she had shielded her heart with shale instead of diamond._

The battle was over. She had won. Her charizard finally allowed itself to droop, showing signs of exhaustion it had hidden during the fight.

She patted its neck and gazed over at her former opponent proudly. He stood, shoulders down, grasping his final pokemon. His arcanine still lay on the field where it had fallen, the once-proud beast covered in dirt and scrapes from the arena. He recalled the canine and merely stood, looking down at the dirt floor of the arena.

She decided to break the silence. "It was a good match, Green. You put up a really good fight."

Green looked up at her with dull eyes. In their depths she could see fear, an animal caged and cornered. "Not good enough," he muttered.

"Leaf!" She turned to see Professor Oak rushing toward her, his arms outstretched. Leaf allowed the professor to hug her, glancing at Green. His fists were clenched and he still had that caged look in his eye.

"Leaf, I'm so proud of you!" the professor gushed. "Ever since you left Pallet, I knew you would go far! You've even beaten my own grandson, who has been studying at my lab since he was seven! No doubt, you have skills!"

Leaf winced and looked over at Green. His eyes were wide, and he looked vulnerable for the first time in his life. Then, he saw her looking at him, and he quickly controlled his expression to a grimace.

She turned back to the professor. "Erm, thanks," she said awkwardly. "But, Green also did well to get here, did he not? He was Champion before me, after all!"

Professor Oak waved a hand dismissively. "For about half-an-hour! That has to be a record for the shortest reign in history! Yes, Green is a good trainer, but not as good as you!"

The sound of a pokeball broke the very pregnant silence. Leaf turned to see Green feeding his pidgeot a max revive. After a few moments, the bird stood up, and Green got on its back, refusing to look at Leaf or his grandfather.

"Green," Professor Oak asked, "where are you going?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at his grandfather. "To train," he spat, and Leaf didn't miss the quaver in the last syllable. "You know, so I can make you proud like _Leaf_ does all the time."

Leaf flinched back as his eyes met hers, hurt and hostility battling for dominance in their emerald depths. He nudged his pidgeot, and the avian flapped its wings, creating a small dust cloud as they took off into the sky.

/

The next time she sees him, she is two years older and he has the beginnings of facial hair growing on his face. It becomes him.

"Hello," she says quietly.

"Hi," he replies simply. His pidgeot has grown; it now towers over him, its wingspan twice his height. Her charizard has grown too, and its flame burns much hotter these days.

"How…have you been?" she asks, trying to salvage the pieces of their childhood friendship.

"Fine. I've been training," he answers, politely but curtly, scattering the fragments again.

She considers having a battle with him and letting him win, but she knew he would resent it. Her charizard hangs its head over her shoulder, and she instinctively scratches it behind its horns. It rumbles happily.

Green studies the charizard, seemingly thinking hard.

"What's wrong?" Leaf asks, puzzled.

He stays silent a moment longer before he shakes his head. "It's nothing." And Leaf is pained because she wishes he would let her in.

And as he takes off on his pidgeot again, with nothing but a wave of the hand, she finds out, far too late, that she has shielded her heart with shale instead of diamond.

/

She is at Mount Silver when his pidgeot lands. Thin rock crunches under his feet as he dismounts, and he walks over to her.

"How long have you been here?" he asks, and she is surprised to see concern on his features.

"A year," she replies, voice cracking from lack of use, because there's nobody to talk to at the top of a mountain. Green glances down at her hands, cracked from the cold and an angry red color.

"It's time for you to come home." Words drop like stones off the side of a mountain.

"No," she says simply. They stand in silence. He finally sits. She sits. They sit in silence.

"Why?" He finally drops the biggest rock of all.

She is silent. He waits. They watch as the sun moves in the sky, until it touches the land.

Leaf finally looks at him, glances at the weathered pokeballs along his belt and the tarnished badges on his jacket.

"If I'm here," she says, her voice cracking once again (though not from lack of use this time), "I can't hurt you anymore."

They are both quiet for a long time. Finally, he takes one of her cracked, chapped hands in his own and they just sit, watching the moon rise.

"I'm sorry," Green says lowly, and she looks over at him. His eyes are cast downward, and he fidgets with the hand that isn't holding hers.

She waits. After an eternity, he looks at her again. "Don't be," she replies.

He stands. She looks up at him. He holds out a hand for her to grasp. She stands.

"Come home," he says, and in his eyes is a pleading look. The caged animal is gone; it escaped a while ago, she is sure. After a moment, Leaf smiles, a bittersweet ending.

She grips his hand tightly, and the pidgeot dives down the mountain, towards the earth.


End file.
